But two tries to Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans in the final eight minutes tied the score before co-captain Jamie Lyon kicked the match-winning conversion. Lyon had missed three earlier and the relief was evident as he found his range when it mattered most.

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But King's injury soured the night for Manly, who kept their top-four hopes alive with their 11th win of the season. King walked gingerly from the field in the 16th minute after coming off second-best in a tackle, and was sent to hospital for assessment. The exact nature of the injury wasn't immediately clear.

Manly coach Geoff Toovey said King had suffered some sort of chest injury and had gone for X-rays.

Lyon said his match-sealing conversion was the least he could do after his earlier misses.

''I was due to kick one. I missed half a dozen other ones but luckily it was an easy kick, and it went over, so it was good,'' Lyon said.

''It was a bit of a get-out-of-jail situation. I thought all the boys showed some good courage to come back and score a few tries. It was a great result.''

Manly were woeful in the first 39 minutes, but a sensational try to winger Jorge Taufua on the stroke of half-time gave the reigning premiers hope of a revival.

Taufua ran on to a pinpoint cross-field kick from Kieran Foran and beat two lunging tackles in a 50-metre sprint to the line to finally get the Sea Eagles on the board.

The first half produced a series of bruising tackles, with several players set to face nervous waits after delivering high tackles.

Manly centre Steve Matai was one to deliver a high hit, while Warriors substitute Sione Lousi produced a crunching sling tackle.

Vatuvei's 45th-minute try gave the Warriors the momentum early in the second half, but from there, it was all Manly as the defending premiers staged a stunning reversal.

Tries to David Williams and Foran got the Sea Eagles back into the contest, before Cherry-Evans left the Warriors stunned with a double at the death. New Zealand's sixth straight loss to Manly left the Warriors' finals hopes dangling by a thread, with last year's beaten grand finalists two points adrift of eighth spot.

In an added blow, centre Konrad Hurrell was helped off the field after 15 minutes with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury, although he later returned.

''We'll have to look at the video. He got stamped on by Tony Williams on his foot,'' McClennan said.

''Obviously the review panel will look at that and we'll check it out ourselves. He was able to get back on but he was not managing it well, so we had to get him off in the end.''

A crowd of 20,095 attended the match in another boost to Perth's bid to get their own NRL side. But it hardly felt like home for Manly, who had to contend with a pro-Warriors crowd despite the location.